A look back at Melbourne fine dining in the 1970s and 1980s
AT a top restaurant in Melbourne in 1977 you could get a main course for $7.50 - all while smoking a cigar at the table. Take a look at two of our city’s retro menus from the 1970s and ‘80s.
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BACK in the 1970s and ‘80s menus were handwritten and there was no such thing as a celebrity chef, it was all about the restaurant.
And without technology, the long lunch or dinner was distraction free. Just conversation with good food and wine and no irritating people taking pictures of their food or watching YouTube while they eat.
Here’s a look back at a few Melbourne fine dining menus from the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Back in the ‘70s you could get a 10-course brunch for $15 and a coffee and chocolates for $1, all cooked up by the famous TV chef Iain “Huey” Hewitson.
The first menu is from Clichy, which was opened by Iain Hewitson and Sigmund Jorgenson in Collingwood in 1977.
This place was a seriously up-market French-style bistro awarded three hats for its phenomenal cuisine. But take a look at those prices.
You could start with soup of the day for $2.25 - cheaper than a can of soup today - and move onto rock oysters for $5.25.
For main course you didn’t have to break a tenner. How about duck breast with peppercorn sauce for $7.95?
You’ll notice there’s a lot more offal on the menu, with brains and kidneys featuring prominently in a number of dishes. Something we rarely see today.
The ‘80s in Melbourne was a wondrous time to dine.
With lobster, brains (still the offal) and lots of butter, menus took their influence from France and borrowed from Asia to produce a uniquely Australian experience.
Chardonnay was the fine dining wine — and the height of sophistication — and the daiquiri was the cocktail du jour.
You could smoke pipes and cigars as you noshed on your dinner, although many chefs kindly asked diners not to puff away until after 10pm, as you’ll see in the menu from Fleurie.
Another of Hewitson’s restaurants, Fleurie, offered three courses for $44.
Seems like a bargain, but if we convert that to today’s money we’re looking at hundreds of dollars.
Melbourne food writer Rita Erlich has been collecting menus since 1980 and amassed hundreds, providing a unique insight into how restaurants changed over the years.
“In the ‘80s we shifted from French dominated fine dining to modern Australian with its Asian influences and we saw the emergence of modern Italian and excellent Chinese and Japanese restaurants,” Erlich says.
Menus had meats and vegetables with sauces and there was no such thing as a foams, soils, or dust on your food.
You’ll also notice that the menu has a description of each element of the dish and how it’s cooked, something that Erlich says has vastly changed today.
“These days the language has changed completely. There are more and more menus where there are no verbs, adjectives or adverbs, just a list of ingredients,” she says.
“You have no idea how the food is going to be cooked.”
The way Melburnians eat has also completely changed since the 80s and the “bottom of the menu has traded up”.
It’s common now to find burgers and barbecue meats on menus at fine dining establishments.
“Now, something like hamburgers — which were thought of in the 80s as cheap, fast food — now has a certain cache on the menu. And can be seen in much more upper class establishments,” Erlich says.
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